Saturday, July 3, 2010

She Wore Bows in Her Hair

I can't help but chuckle when I look at these photographs of my mother, Audrey Meinzen, with bows in her hair.

In this photo Mom is with her father, W. C. Robert Meinzen, and her 2nd youngest sister, "Baby Girl" of some previous Sepia Saturday posts.

Her bow is wider than her head! I wonder if it's tied around a lock of hair or if something else is holding it in place.

I think Mom is about 6 and "Baby Girl" is perhaps 6 or 8 months in this photo. That would date the photo to late fall, 1921, and could possibly be as late as early 1922.

This photo was probably taken between 1922 and 1923. It's Mom and "Baby Girl" again. There was a daughter between these two but she doesn't seem to be in the photos taken around this time.

Is it my imagination or is the bow bigger in this photo than in the previous one? Perhaps the bows became bigger as Mom got older?

Oh, I do believe it's true: bows got bigger with age. Mom looks to be another two years older than in the previous photograph, and look at that bow! Have you ever seen such a big bow in a child's hair before?

Was it made of fabric or paper? If it was fabric, surely it was starched. How did she keep it in her hair? How did she prevent it from flopping around?

She's with "Baby Girl" again in this photo, too. I love this photo. I love how "Baby Girl" is peeking around from behind Mom. I love the hollyhocks -- whoops, they're roses -- in the background, and their dresses. I think this is just a terrific little snapshot. I wonder who the photographer was.

Do you have photographs of ancestors with bows in their hair?

This is a Sepia Saturday post. I encourage you to go to the Sepia Saturday blog where you can find out who else is sharing old photographs and memories this week.

13 comments:

Wonderful!!! And in fact I do have a photo, I was just looking at it last night, of my grandma and her sister, both with big old bows perched on top of their heads! I will have to post it, possibly next week.

Oh Nancy, I love those pictures of your mom with the bows. I do not have any old photos with bows in the hair. I am going to keep on the look-out that makes for an interesting post today. Thanks for stopping by my neck of the woods in Ky.QMM

Love the bows. I had just decided to post beach photos after seeing Mouse and Lettuce's posts and now bows seem like fun. I remember several photos of my Mother with very large bows. I'm starting to feel like a copycat- but you're all just very inspiring.

Those Bows Look Good!I kid you not........they are coming back into fashion here in England..Or a variation at least.These past 2 days I've suddenly seen loads of young girls with Big Flower - type bows in their hair.Your Mum was aHead of her time!

My grandmother's wedding picture is the only place that I have seen bows in the hair. It is on the side of my site in the oval frame. Your mom was really over blessed with a good thing. Great post.Oh I just remembered, I actually have that bow along with her wedding dress. She was married in the same era as your mom's youngest picture.

Have no photos of family members wearing bows, but have bought a lot of old shots with bows of different sizes gracing the heads of little and not so little girls. Love the Gerber baby smile in the second shot.

Oh yes, nancy, the Ostrowski gathering I posted awhile back had my great aunt Francie with a huge bow like that, bigger than her head and another cousin with similar. I guess that was the fashion. Funny how they stayed upright too? Thanks for the chuckle

I love the big bows on the little girls! It appears that you mom loved them! I noticed that Baby Girl didn't seem to be into the bow thing. A girl at my daughter's high school wears them just as big. She is eighteen and looks ridiculous!

Barbara and Nancy -- Don't think of it as being a copycat but as being inspired.... I think all of us do that sometimes. We see a photo on someone else's blog and say, "Oh, yes, I have a photo about that...." and up it goes on our own blog in a few weeks.

Tony - You make me laugh. My mom would be thrilled to know she was aHead of her time!

L.D. Burgess - I went to your blog to have another look at your mom's wedding photo. Very lovely. I wish I could have enlarged it, though. I hadn't quite thought of my mom being "overly blessed" but that's a fun way to think about it.

Crazyasa - Thanks for pointing out the rose garden. I was focused on the bow and didn't look closely at the flowers -- I thought they were hollyhocks.

Tattered and Lost - Maybe you'll share some of your photos with bows. You have lots of great photos on your blog. I hadn't thought about the smile looking like a Gerber baby but I agree - it does.

Pat in MN - I'll have to go look at your photo. I wonder how they kept those bows upright....

Neetzy - I think maybe Baby Girl didn't have enough hair to keep a bow in, though I don't think I've seen a photo of her with a bow. I think little girls can get away with big bows but I don't know about 18-year-olds. Haven't seen any big girls with big bows around here yet.

Alan - You have such a way with words! I hope you'll post your mom's photos sometime. Thank you for starting Sepia Saturday. It's really fun to look at others' photos and read their stories.

About Me

Sometimes I want to jump back in time, into the lives of my ancestors. Not to stay, of course -- too many modern conveniences I'd rather not do without -- but to meet them and watch their interactions with each other. Since I can't do that, I spend time learning about them and the times in which they lived. I look forward to meeting them. I've been seriously searching for my ancestors for nearly 8 years. I plan to continue indefinitely.
If you think we might have ancestors in common or you'd like to contact me for any other reason, please email me at myancestorsandme @ gmail.com.